The effect of male co-twins on milk and kid production, and productive lifespan of goats during their adult life

Abstract Kidding (n=33116) and monthly milking control (n = 96359) records of Florida goats (n = 13194) from the Spanish Florida Goat Breeders Association, collected between 2007 and 2016, were used to determine whether the presence of male co-twins affected the productive lifespan, and kid and milk production of does. The dataset included single-born (n=3727), twin-born (n=7573), triplet-born (n=1784) and quadruplet-born (n=110) goats. Information for each goat included birth date; type of birth (single, twin, triplet, or quadruplet), sex of the co-twin(s), reproductive traits of the goat throughout its productive life, and mean milk quality and quantity of the lactations. Singleton and twin-born goats had significantly longer productive lifespans than did triplet- (P